Field experiment on effect of different age and number of seedlings on dry matter partitioning and yield of machine-transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L.) was conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Gangavathi, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka during kharif 2012 and 2013 in clay soil. Pooled mean of two years indicated that planting of 25 days old seedlings recorded significantly higher dry matter production at harvest in leaves (14.17 g/plant), stem (27.38 g/plant), panicle (38.95 g/plant) and total dry matter production at harvest (80.10 g/plant), grain and straw yield (5101 and 6335 kg/ha, respectively), gross and net returns (Rs. 91,141 and 45,178/ha, respectively) and benefit : cost ratio of 2.01. Similarly, among the number of seedlings/hill and planting of three to four seedlings/hill recorded significantly higher dry matter production at harvest in leaves (14.62 g/plant), stem (29.59 g/plant), panicle (41.35 g/plant) and total dry matter production at harvest (85.55 g/plant), grain and straw yield (5330 and 6585 kg/ha, respectively), gross and net returns (Rs. 95,190 and 49,165/ha, respectively) and benefit : cost ratio 2.10.

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2012-13 at Students’ Instructional Farm of Chandra Sekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh to evaluate the effect of herbicides metsulfuron-methyl, carfentrazon-ethyl and clodinafop under sole as well as combination with sulfosulfuron and clodinafop fb metsulfuron on wheat growth, yield and yield attributing characters. Among herbicides, maximum plant population and dry matter (60 and 90 DAS) production were found under the treatment sulfosulfuron fb carfentrazone (25 and 15, and 25 and 10 g a. i./ha, respectively). The maximum plant height among herbicides was recorded under sulfosulfuron fb metsulfuron. Herbicide sulfosulfuron fb carfentrazone (15 g a. i./ha) recorded numerically higher values of number of tillers/m2 and effective tillers/m2. However, the herbicidal treatment sulfosulfuron (25 g a. i./ha)+carfentrazon (15 g a. i./ha) recorded significantly highest grain yield of wheat (46.65 q/ha) over unweeded plot, followed by sulfosulfuron (25 g a. i./ha) fb carfentrazon (15 g a. i./ha) (46.50 q/ha). All the yield attributing characters viz., grain weight per ear, number of earheads/m2, number of spikelets/ear and 1000-grain weight were also maximized under sulfosulfuron (25 g a. i/ha)+carfentrazon (10 g a. i./ha) treatment.

In order to determine the yield gap of the common wheat cultivars in Ardabil region, an experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Ardabil Islamic Azad University Agricultural Research Station in two agricultural years of 2014-15 and 2015-16. The studied cultivars included Pishgam, Gaskogen, Gaspard, Siosson and MV 17. In order to evaluate the actual yield, 30 farms from three different locations (from villages of Namin County and Ardabil) were chosen and during two agricultural years of 2014-15 and 2015-16, all management factors were completed and collected during the growing season and ultimately, the seed yield was measured by the help of the farmers. After measuring the seed yield in the research center and field, the yield gap was estimated. Analysis of variance results suggested that there was a significant difference between the studied cultivars in the research center and the field on seed yield at one per cent. Also, results showed that there was no significant difference found between the years and the interaction of the year on cultivar. Data mean comparison results in the research center indicated that Siosson with the mean of 6,627.7 kg/ha had the highest seed yield and MV17 with the mean of 5,498.5 kg/ha had the lowest seed yield. Also, data mean results in the field showed that Pishgam with a mean of 5,900 kg/ha had the highest seed yield and MV 17 with a mean of 4,340.8 kg/ha had the lowest seed yield. By studying the yield gap, the results showed that the highest yield gap in 2014 was related to MV 17 in Location 2 with 2,367 kg/ha and the lowest yield gap for this year was related to Pishgam in Location 2 with a mean of 84 kg/ha. The highest yield gap in the second year (2015) was related to MV17 in Location 2 with 2,305 kg/ha and the lowest yield gap for this year was related to Pishgam in Location 2 with a mean of 63 kg/ha.

Wheat in Iran is important due to increasing consumption by the population. Much of the wheat in Iran produced in irrigated farm lands, which cover about 50% of the total irrigated land. Since the irrigated land is limited, the productivity has to be increased. Wheat production is constrained by different managements, abiotic and biotic. To determine the production constraints for wheat in Moghan in the Province of Ardabil in north-west of Iran, survey was conducted in the 58 wheat fields in the region. In this survey, through identifying management factors that cause wheat yield gap to improve yield production to quantifying the highest smallholder farm yield of the study area and identifying the factors that cause yield gap in the region. The aim of this survey was to identify the large gaps between highest wheat yield on smallholder farms and average yield for five wheat cultivars. In 2015 and 2016, yield gap constraints were identified through the stepwise regression method. Management factors, including timing of planting, nitrogen and phosphorus rates, crop rotation, weeds and pest control and wheat cultivars being the main factors for the wheat yield gap in the region. Year-to-year variability in response to late planting is not unusual, but many experiments suggest that, on average, yield will peak when flowering occurs around 15 May, and will fall sharply if flowering occurs after 25 May (equivalent to a late planting i. e. after 15 December).

Acid soils affect nutrient uptake, microbial activity, crop growth, biomass and yield. Thus, the maintenance and management of acid soils are very much important to obtain higher productivity. In this study, possibility of using low cost liming materials like LD slag to ameliorate acid soil was investigated and its impacts on total heterotrophic bacterial population, total P-solubilizing bacteria population, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and dehydrogenase activities (DHA) of rhizosphere of groundnut were assessed under tropical monsoon climate of eastern India. The LD slag was applied @ 0.3 LR along with vermicompost and inorganic fertilizers in different rates viz., 50, 75 and 100% of recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF). LD slag was applied one day before sowing of the crop and results were compared among treatments. Soil amelioration along with recommended organics addition (vermicompost) positively improved the soil reaction, culturable microbial population (heterotrophic and P-solubilizing bacteria) and P-solubilization efficiency. But MBC and DHA activities were improved more with integrated application of LD slag with inorganics and VC.

A field experiment was carried out during rainy season of 2015 to study the effect of gibberellic acid (GA3) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on flowering and fruiting of okra. The experiment was planned using randomized block design with nine treatments and three replications comprising three levels of both GA3 (50, 100 and 200 ppm) and NAA (50, 100 and 200 ppm) with two combination doses of NAA and GA3 (50+50 ppm and 100+100 ppm). All variables regarding flowering and fruiting were significantly influenced by different concentrations of the growth regulators. Plant growth regulators (PGR) were less effective when applied individually as compared to their combined use; however, performance of plants treated with individual PGR was better than the untreated plants. Among all the combinations of NAA and GA3 (50 ppm each) resulted in maximum internodal length (7.53 cm), number of nodes/plant (25.67), number of flowers/plant (25.33), fruit length (12.37 cm), fruit girth (1.91 cm) and number of fruits/plant (22.67), while took minimum days to flowering (35.67) and fruiting (38.33).

A field experiment was conducted during 2014-15 season. Mineral potassium fertilizer of 0, 50, 75 and 100 kg/ha and boron at 0, 5, 10 and 15 kg/ha with a uniform dose of nitrogen and phosphorus at 80 and 50 kg/ha, respectively. The highest mean vegetative parameters (plant height, number of leaves per plant, fresh weight and dry weight of leaves) were from a treatment combination of 100 kg N and 15 kg Band yield and yield were maximum from a treatment combination of 75 kg N and 10 kg B. Application of potassium and boron at higher doses positively affected carrot root production.

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2014-15 to investigate the effect of different levels of biofertilizers (Azotobacter and PSB) in combination with three levels of NPK fertilizers on growth, yield and quality of garlic ‘GHC-1’. The application of biofertilizers alone and in combination resulted in significant improvement in plant height, number of leaves per plant, average bulb weight, bulb diameter, number of cloves per bulb, average clove weight, clove length, clove diameter, bulb yield, total soluble solid and dry matter of bulb over un-inoculated control. The increased bulb yield was to the tune of 25.86, 12.99 and 9.81% with the combination of biofertilizers (Azotobacter+PSB), PSB and Azotobacter, respectively, over un-inoculated control. The application of NPK fertilizers significantly increased all the growth, yield and quality along with bulb yield over control with each incremental level of NPK. The interaction effects showed that bulb yield was increased in a linear manner with the application of bio-inoculants integrated with increasing levels of NPK fertilizers. The highest bulb yield (20.89 t/ha) was recorded when the plots were supplemented with 100% NPK+seedlings dipping of both the inoculants. Furthermore, it was observed that the yield (20.09 t/ha) obtained with the application of 75% NPK+Azotobacter+PSB was at par with that of recommended NPK (100%), thus resulting in net saving of 25% NPK fertilizers.

A field trial was conducted at the farm of Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture, VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar, Pauri Garhwal during the year 2013-14. Experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. The experiment was conducted to find out the genotypes to be used as parents for mapping populations as well as in hybrid breeding programmes. Both cluster and principal component analysis showed an adequate grouping of genotypes according to phenotypical data. Principal component analysis revealed that the first five principal components were accounted for 82.31% of the total variation. Cluster analysis using Ward method classified the 19 genotypes into five clusters. The most important traits for strawberry genotypes grouping were fruit traits and plant architecture, which should be taken into account in the further strawberry genetic resource characterization and analysis of breeding material. The present study showed that strawberry genotypes possessed high level of genetic variation that was useful for breeding.

Ten genotypes of French marigold were evaluated for extraction of pigments like carotenes, xanthophylls and chlorophylls at Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. This study was aimed at finding out some suitable genotypes of French marigold having higher recovery of carotenoid and chlorophyll pigments. Flowers were plucked at full bloom stage and kept in open space at ambient conditions. Column chromatography method was employed to extract natural pigments. Maximum total carotenes (69.83 mg/100 g), xanthophylls (305.48 mg/100 g) and di-hydroxy pigments (171.55 mg/100 g) were recorded in genotype 109-1-2, while maximum mono-hydroxy pigments were reported in genotype 26-3-1 (107.82 mg/100 g) followed by genotype 8-2 (104.99 mg/100 g). Chlorophyll ‘a’ was found higher in genotype 26-2-2 (3.68 mg/100 g) followed by genotype 26-3-1 (3.39 mg/100 g), while chlorophyll ‘b’ (6.16 mg/100 g) and total chlorophyll (9.48 mg/100 g) were recorded higher in genotype 26-2-2-1.

In the present scenario, the DNA markers become the marker of choice for the plant genetic analysis. At current year, different types of molecular markers are available and the selection of using specific type of marker depends on the user. Molecular markers are certain DNA sequences found at particular locations on genome and transmitted from one generation to the next by the standard laws of inheritance. Molecular markers are specific fragments of DNA are located at specific position of the genome which shows polymorphism between dissimilar individuals. They arise from mutations such as point mutations, insertions or deletions. These markers are selectively neutral because they are also positioned in non-coding regions of DNA so it phenotypically neutral. Molecular markers are the most widely used than morphological and biochemical markers due to their abundance. Molecular markers used in crop improvement for various purposes such as assessment of genetic diversity, genotyping, identification of quantitative-trait loci (QTLs), gene cloning, cultivar analysis, marker assisted selection (MAS), phylogenetic study, identification of disease resistance genes and linkage map, etc. This review article provides importance of different types of molecular markers such as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), intersimple sequence repeats (ISSRs), simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in linseed genome study for several diverse applications including germplasm characterization, QTL mapping and gene mapping, etc.

Sucking pests of rice, particularly brown plant hopper and green leaf hopper, cause major damage apart from the disease transmission. They are the regular pests and in certain parts of country severe outbreaks were observed to cause heavy damage. Environmental factors play a major role in population build-up and outbreaks of sucking pests during a cropping season. However, biotic factors like natural enemies play a significant role in suppressing the population upsurge of sucking pests. Keeping these points in view, an experiment was laid out to study the influence of environmental factors viz., abiotic and biotic factors (natural enemies) on BPH and GLH. The results revealed a positive significant correlation of pest population build-up with the temperature. However, the morning RH was negatively correlated with both BPH and GLH. A significant positive correlation was obtained with spiders and mirid bugs for both BPH and GLH during initial phase of pest population build-up. The influence of abiotic factors on natural enemies was also found to be same as that on pest indirectly indicating influence of weather parameters on host population. Furthermore, ratio of predator to pest was also calculated which showed that spiders being a generalist predators were abundant than mirid bugs and their population fluctuated less with pest population than mirid bugs. It was ascertained that both abiotic and biotic factors played major role in population fluctuation especially humidity, high temperatures with intermittent rainy days favoured rise of pest population. However, the biotic factors like natural enemies and pest population are highly interdependent.

Heavy metals are among the most important sorts of contaminant in the environment. Several methods were already used to clean up the environment from these kinds of contaminants, but most of them are costly and difficult to get optimum results. Of all the remediation techniques available for metal-contaminated soil, phytoremediation is the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly and practical approach. Phytoremediation includes the removal, relocation, or reduction of contaminants using plants that hyperaccumulate these contaminants. Phytoremediation is an emerging technology using selected plants to clean up the contaminated environment from hazardous contaminant to improve the environment quality. Mechanisms used to remediate soils contaminated by heavy metal are : phytoextraction, phytostabilization, phytovolatilization and rhizofiltration. In this review, we discuss the need for phytoremediation and its approaches with a special context to the heavy metals.

To evaluate the effects of tillage timing, cover crop planting and weed control methods on sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) yield and quality, a study was conducted in strip split plot design with randomized complete block design arrangement in four replications for two years starting from 2012 in Karaj, Iran. Main plots were allocated to tillage timing accompanied by cover crop including seedbed preparation in autumn without cover crop (a1), seedbed preparation in autumn with barley planting on raw in autumn (a2), seedbed preparation in autumn with broadcast planting barley as cover crop in autumn (a3), seedbed preparation in spring without cover crop (a4) and seedbed preparation in spring with row planting barley as cover crop in spring (a5), and sub-plots consisted of three weed control methods including hand weeding, chemical control and without control. Analysis of variance results showed that weed management had significant effect on root yield and sugar yield. Mean comparison results illustrated that plots treated with chemical control and hand weeding were superior to control in terms of root yield and sugar yield with less impurities. Results also showed that tillage timing significantly influenced root and sugar yield so that the highest root and sugar yields were obtained in tillage practice in autumn without cover crop and hand weeding treatments. However, tillage timing had no significant effect on weeds fresh and dry weight.

To study the effect of NAA and Zn-EDTA application on yield and fiber quality of cotton cultivars, an experiment based on split-split plot arrangement with randomized complete block design in three repetitions was conducted in two locations (Varamin and Razeghabad regions) of Tehran province, Iran in 2013-14. In this research, the main plot included three cotton cultivars (Varamin, Khordad and Pak), the sub-plots were sprayed by spraying with pure water (control), Zn-EDTA with 1 ml/l and 2 ml/l concentration and NAA with concentration of 30 ppm and control were as sub-sub plots that were at four levels (control, one time of spraying, two times spraying and three times spraying). The results showed that Zn-EDTA spraying with appropriate concentration alongside using NAA as the spray resulted in increased number of total bolls per plant, increased weight of single bolls, seed cotton yield in 1st and 2nd picking, total seed cotton yield and fiber length compared to the control group. Zn-EDTA spraying did not have a significant effect on fiber uniformity and fiber strength. There was a significant difference between cultivars in terms of fiber length, fineness and strength. However, using NAA did not have significant effect on fiber uniformity, strength and fineness. In total, reaction of different cultivars in two locations to different Zn-EDTA concentrations and NAA sprayed were different in most surveyed characteristics.

In order to investigate the effect of different bacterial strains on some morphologic properties of dill, under water stress conditions in a field study, a split plot experiment based on complete randomized block design with three replicates was used, in 2013 and 2014. Water stress as the main factor in three levels of irrigation with 40, 80 and 120 mm evaporation from pan, and bacterial strains in nine levels as sub-factors were used. The results indicate that all bacterial strains worked significantly for the improvement of performance in dill, under stress, moderate stress and water deficit. Based on composite ANOVA, the effect of stress was significant on number of umbels, stem diameter, root dry weight, stem dry weight and leaf dry weight at 1%, so was the effect of stress and strain on the number of umbels, root dry weight, and stem diameter. The strains significantly changed the number of umbels, stem diameter and root dry weight. The three factors had significant effects on the essential oil percentage. Finally, bacterial inoculation seed alone could improve the quality and quantity of dill. Therefore, it is advisable to use biological inputs instead of chemical fertilizers as a means towards sustainable agriculture.

Achillea is a common name (Achillea millefolium L.) which belongs to Asteracea family. Use of the essential oils of Achillea genus in medical, culinary, food and cosmopolitic products and their biological activities depends on the chemical constitutes. The aerial parts of plant were analyzed by using GC/MS. The 31 compounds were identified in dried aerial parts. The major components were : Camphor (17.75%), Thujone (13.25%), -pinene (6%), -Thujone (5.85%)and -Humulene (5.48%). In conclusion, breeding programmes could be achieved by using selection procedures that recognize the best genotypes among populations such as Isfahan province ecotype.